


Thanks for the...

by Slave2MyFantasy



Category: Naruto
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Fuck Canon I Do What I Want, How Do I Tag, Hyuuga Neji Lives, Long Live Kylee Henke, POV Third Person Limited, Rock Lee Needs More Love, cringe culture is dead, kinda lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:48:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27660241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slave2MyFantasy/pseuds/Slave2MyFantasy
Summary: Hey, remember that smutty Rock Lee oneshot I wrote a while back? This is a continuation of that, expanding on the original characters and the backstories and relationships... Basically, Lee proposes to Hikari in this story, while reminiscing on their past. If you liked that, you might like this.
Relationships: Rock Lee/Original Character(s), Rock Lee/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	Thanks for the...

**Author's Note:**

> Have fun trying to figure out the timeline because I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. Anyway, people might be OOC, canon might have been dragged out back and shot, and I might not give a shit. I mostly wrote this for me. Read on if you dare, enjoy if you like :)

“Come back safe, okay? Come back to me.”

Lee starts awake, finding himself soaked with sweat. His girlfriend, Hikari, was snuggled on his chest, the two of them desperately trying to fit on his twin mattress in his little apartment. Though her brilliant, radiating body heat was making him warm, his sweat was cold. He’d had a dream he couldn’t quite remember anymore; a memory from a long time ago. The most his mind would recall is a young voice that had haunted him for years.

Hikari blinks awake and sits up. “Lee, it’s not time for training yet…”

He glances out the nearby window— she was right. It was still dark out, the sun’s rays just barely leaking over the horizon. Hikari had started reprimanding him for training too late and getting up too early. Sleep was important for a healthy body, she’d said. Guy-sensei had agreed with her, but only after she had chewed his ear off, too. 

“Sorry, Hikari-chan,” he murmurs, wrapping an arm around her.

“You’re all sweaty. Did you have a nightmare or something?” she asks, rolling to set her cheek on his chest. Her eyes glinted in the low light, their absolutely stunning gold color the only thing he could see. 

“I do not remember… I am sorry for waking you,” he admits, running a thumb along her forehead. Her cheeks flush, and she gives a bashful little smile.

“Well… let’s get back to sleep then. We’ve still got a couple hours before sunrise,” she whispers, giving his chest a little kiss. The feeling of her soft, plush lips makes his breath catch; for some reason, he feels nostalgic.

“Right. Goodnight again, Hikari-chan.”

“Goodnight, Lee.”

—

“You’re awake. How do you feel?” Tsunade’s voice cuts through Lee’s bleary, anesthetic hazed consciousness.

“I am… alive?” He says, trying to sit up.

“Yes, you’re alive. Don’t sit up yet, don’t even try to move. Your incisions are closed, but just barely, so don’t do anything stupid.” She reaches down to check the clipboard hanging off the end of his bed. 

“So the surgery…?”

“A success, lucky for you. It was touch and go for a second… ah, I’ve got a pain killer on the bedside table there for you.” She gestures with her pen for a moment, drawing the young boy’s round eyes to the pale ceramic bottle beside him. “You’ll take one in an hour, and then once again every six hours.”

“Tsunade-sama,” he says, clutching the sheets with his good hand, “will I… be able to be a ninja?”

The blonde glances up from her clipboard, her face serious for a moment. He swallows nervously as she regards him, studies him.

“You will, Lee,” she finally says, looking down at the board.

A sigh of relief wheezes out of his mouth before he can stop it, and he raises one of his arms to cover his eyes. He normally would not feel so embarrassed about crying but… this felt different. Tsunade gives a little chuckle. 

“You will,” she clarifies, “as long as you don’t do anything stupid to jeopardize your healing process.” 

“Yes, Ma’am,” he sniffles. “Of course, Ma’am.”

—

Hikari sits back on their training log, giving a loud sigh.

“Lee, you always work me like a dog! I’m a chef-nin, you know!” she laughs, wiping her forehead with a spare towel.

“That is no excuse, Hikari-chan!” Lee laughs, finishing his last set of 1000 pushups. “We are in the prime of our youth, and shou—”

“Take advantage of every minute, I know, I know.” She pops off the top of her water bottle and pours it down her face. “I’m just saying, I’m better at cooking than taijutsu.”

“Even more reason for you to practice!” Lee stops mid pushup to flip onto his hands. “I am going on a jog, would you like to come?”

“After this bootcamp? No, thank you,” she giggles, standing up and slinging her towel over her shoulder. “I’ve gotta take a shower, I reek. Have fun, babe.”

Lee’s cheeks go pink— he was not used to Hikari calling him pet names yet. “A-Alright, Hikari-chan.”

“You know… you could call me Hikari once in a while,” she calls over her shoulder. “We’re not kids anymore!”

“I know, Hikari-ch— Hikari,” Lee stammers. Hikari gives a little giggle and a backwards wave as she heads for her own apartment. He watches her go, and makes sure she is out of sight, before flipping back onto his feet and glancing around.

“Tenten-chan! Are you here yet?” He calls into the trees in a loud whisper.

“Of course I am, I’ve been waiting for you to finish.” The voice of his team member comes from a nearby branch; the pink ninja was perched high enough up that it was hard to detect her. She drops to the ground and scratches her cheek with a finger, trying to look nonchalant. “I thought you were gonna start making out or something.”

“Tenten-chan, please!” Lee blushes, fiddling with his fingers. 

“I’m joking. Jeez, you’re really worked up about her, huh?” She laughs, crossing her arms. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“I am going to ask Hikari-chan to marry me.” Lee says bluntly. Tenten’s eyebrows rocket up her face.

“I was kidding about that, too! You’re serious?!” She gasps, and Lee nods firmly. “Well… damn, okay. What, are you asking me for permission?”

“I need your help, please.” Lee puts his hands at his sides and bows stock straight, parallel with the ground. “Please?”

“My help with what? The… proposal?” 

“Yes. I want to throw a party, but I am afraid I will not be good at it. I would very much appreciate your help, if you could provide it. Please.” His head is nearly touching the ground now, his braid hanging down over his shoulder. Tenten shuffles in embarrassment. 

“God, Lee, okay! Just… just stop that! I’ll help, get up!” She chuckles, and Lee jumps up, grabbing her hands. 

“REALLY? THANK YOU, TENTEN-CHAN!” He exclaims, stars in his eyes. She groans and chuckles again, rolling her eyes a bit.

“Okay, okay! Quit it, I said I’d help!” 

Lee releases her and pumps a fist in the air. 

“Excellent! We must begin the planning immediately! I was thinking we could invite all of Konoha to the gym, and—”

“Okay, stop right there. You did this exact thing at Naruto’s wedding and nearly got yourself kicked out.” Tenten holds a finger up to his lips, raising a single eyebrow. “Try thinking about it from Hikari’s perspective. What’s her favorite thing?”

“… Cooking?”

“Good. And what’s her favorite thing to cook?”

“Meat.”

“So?”

“… I should cook her meat?” 

Tenten slaps a hand to her forehead and sighs. She was going to have to hold his hand through this, she just knew it. 

“No. Yakiniku. Ya-ki-ni-ku.” She crosses her arms. “We should throw her a yakiniku party.”

“Oh! That is an excellent idea, Tenten-chan!” Lee exclaims, a grin plastered wide across his face. “And I will hide her ring in the meat!”

“Do you WANT someone to choke and die?! That’s a terrible idea, and you know it!”

“… I did not. What should I hide it in?”

“Maybe your pocket?” Tenten pinches the bridge of her nose. “I don’t trust you to keep it anywhere else.”

“I am not THAT irresponsible, Tenten-chan,” Lee huffs, looking a bit hurt. “I have been on many escort and retrieval missions, I will not lose something as important as Hikari-chan’s wedding ring.”

“… I guess we’ll have to see about that.”

—

Lee wished he could say the mission had been a success so far, but it was looking more and more like they may never make it back to Konoha at all. He, Neji, and Tenten had made it to the rendezvous point, but they had been ambushed, and forced to escape without their supplies and gear. Neji had been targeted and wounded, and his shoulder and eye were slashed and caked in blood. He had assured them it could be healed, but it was keeping him from his usual range of motion and sight. 

It was discouraging, to say the least. Even after Naruto had worked so hard to bring peace back to Konoha and the five nations, enemy factions were popping up left and right.

His team was low on rations and was empty handed; they could not head back without the intel they were charged to collect. And even after a few days, they were still being pursued. He could see Tenten was starting to run out of energy, and he and Neji were not far behind. It would take a miracle to—

Lee stops short on a nearby tree branch. He could smell… curry? No, wait… it was something spicy, but… 

Neji stops a few meters ahead of him. “Lee? What is it?”

“I… I think I smell food,” he says, looking around frantically.

“Food? All the way out here?” Tenten asks. “Maybe someone’s camping?”

“We should try and find them. Perhaps they can give us something to eat and a place to rest for a moment,” Lee suggests.

“No, we can’t put a bystander in danger,” Neji reprimands. “No matter how hungry we are.”

“Neji… we can’t keep going like this. If they catch up to us while we’re weak like this, we won’t be able to protect anyone, anyway.” Tenten frowns, clutching the shirt over her stomach. Neji pauses to think about this, and quickly checks his rations pocket. He had eaten his last food pill a few hours ago… 

Lee does not wait for an answer, and starts off towards the source of the smell.

“Lee. Lee!” Neji shouts, and sighs before joining him, Tenten close behind. It is not long before the smell intensifies… and then suddenly, all three begin to hear the sound of bells. The quiet, soothing, and steady jingle of a chef-nin’s bells. Lee realizes that they were close to the land of the clouds, and that they had literally come across their savior. Chef-nin were a specialized class of shinobi from Kumogakure, meant to wander nomadically through all five nations and serve as a neutral space for all shinobi. They provided food for the hungry, protection for the weak, and care for the injured. 

It was no less than a miracle they had come across one now.

He and Tenten share a look of joy and disbelief, and the whole group sprints towards the sound and smell of food and protection. Quickly, they come across a small clearing in the forest, where a small station was set up. A portable stand for chopping, a campfire with a bubbling pot and a sizzling grill, a small clay oven with a rice pot, some stools, and… a very, very familiar looking kunoichi standing behind the stand, peeling a daikon. Her gold eyes flash upwards for a moment as she acknowledges them.

“Hey there, be with you in a min—”

The whole group pauses, but Lee himself freezes like a statue, blood running cold. Supple brown skin. Curled, mahogany hair. Plump, round face. Those soft, plush lips.

“… Hikari-chan?”

—

“And why exactly do you want everyone’s schedules for the next few weeks, Lee?” Kakashi eyes the green ninja warily, and Lee bows again.

“It is a secret!” he exclaims, and Kakashi sighs, lacing his fingers under his chin. 

“I can’t give them to you without a reason, Lee,” he says. Lee bows again.

“I cannot tell you!” he blurts, face going a bit pink this time.

“Then I can’t give them to you,” Kakashi sighs. 

“Please, Hokage-sama! I will not abuse them!” Lee bows yet again, this time his head truly touching the floor.

“Lee,” Kakashi deadpans. 

“Please!”

“Lee, I—”

“PLEASE!” Lee drops onto the ground, prostrating himself with his forehead pressed to the floor.

“Why is this SO important to you?” Kakashi shakes his head. 

“I am… planning a party of sorts, Hokage-sama.” Lee looks up, his face even redder now. “And it is imperative that everyone important to Hikari-chan is there!”

Kakashi pauses to think over that information. Hikari, he knew that name. He hadn’t spent a lot of time with her, but from what he could remember, she was an immigrant from Kumogakure. No, wait, he could vaguely remember her in class beside Naruto. Odd…

“Is it her birthday?” he asks. Lee shakes his head, brushing his bangs back and forth on the floor.

“No, sir!”

“Then why are you throwing her a party?” Kakashi sighs again, annoyed this time.

“It is a secret! I could not even tell Guy-sensei, Hokage-sama!” Lee pleads. This was surprising, to say the least. Lee shared everything with Guy. 

“Look, Lee, unless I have a reason I can’t give them to you.” Kakashi starts to pick up his stamp to deny Lee’s request. Just then, there’s a quiet knock at the door.

“Come in,” Kakashi calls. Tenten slips into his office.

“Sorry to interrupt, Hokage-sama. Lee, uh, Guy-sensei wants you,” she says quickly, and Lee jumps up. He starts for the door, but then skids on his heels.

“Wait, Tenten-chan. I am still in a meeting with Hokage-sama.” His thick eyebrows knit in concern.

“Go on ahead, I’ll finish up. My name was on the form too,” she explains, waving him away. Lee nods, slowly at first, but then curtly and he gives a short bow to Kakashi before heading out the door. Tenten gives a soft sigh, before turning and giving Kakashi another bow.

“Sorry again for the interruption, Hokage-sama.”

“I keep telling you all just to call me Kakashi.” The silver-haired ninja sighs again. “I was just going to deny Lee’s request… I didn’t see your name on the form, though.”

“It’s not, I just knew that Lee wouldn’t give you the details.” Tenten crosses her arms, mulling over how to discreetly let Kakashi in on the plan.

“… Well, what are they? I don’t have time to play games like this,” Kakashi frowns. Tenten tenses a bit, before biting at her cheek and sighing to herself.

“Lee’s planning on proposing to Hikari,” she admits. “I told him not to tell anyone, even Guy-sensei.”

“… Oh.” Kakashi’s eyebrows raise as he debates on what to ask next. Lee has a girlfriend? Lee’s trying to propose? Hikari has terrible taste? “Uhm, and you want the schedules to make sure everyone can make it?”

“Yes, sir.” Tenten nods. “And I’d appreciate if you could be… discreet with this information. It’s a surprise.” 

“… I shouldn’t, you know that?”

“It’s not for everyone, just a few people.”

“… And you’ll keep him in line?”

“I’ll try my hardest, sir.”

“… Alright, fine. Don’t ever ask me for anything again.”

“Yes, sir.”

—

“Hikari-chan?”

“Lee? … Tenten? Neji?” The plump chef-nin before them drops her knife onto her cutting board. 

“Oh my god, Hikari?! Is that really you?!” Tenten gasps, running up to her. Hikari’s cheeks go bright pink, and she darts around her stand, wrapping Tenten in a tight bear hug and swinging her around. “I thought we’d never see you again!”

“Incredible. How many years has it been?” Neji asks, joining the two giggling girls. Lee stands frozen in place, staring at the girl… the woman in front of him. It really was her. She was just as beautiful as the night he had last seen her. The night before she disappeared out of their lives with no warning. She was older now, and her hair was longer, but her smile was just as bright and her eyes just as warm. As his black ones connect with hers, the gold glitters in the low, dying light of the sun. Her lips relax from that beaming grin to a sad, almost wistful smile.

Tenten stands back and looks between her and Lee, sensing the sudden tension. 

“Uh, like, ten, right?” She asks tentatively, and the sunny chef-nin looks back at her long-lost friend. 

“Yeah, ten, I think. I’m sorry that I… I never really got to tell you where I was going. The whole thing was so sudden.” Hikari smiles sheepishly. 

“You’re… a chef-nin now?” Tenten asks, stepping back to take her in. Her short kimono was tied up at the sleeves, and she had an apron strung around her curvy waist. 

“Yup. I arranged an apprenticeship after the chuunin exams, but I had to go back to Kumogakure for it. I felt bad for so long that I couldn’t tell you all where I was going… I wish I could have, but Shishou refused to let me.” Hikari looks at Lee again, her eyes lingering for a moment. This snaps Lee out of it, and he strides forward, his first step tentative, but getting more and more decisive with each one. 

“You guys look hungry, let me—” Hikari is cut off as Lee throws his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. Hikari’s breath catches in her chest as Lee squeezes her tightly, craned over her to pull her in closer. He was so tall now. Had it really been ten years?

Tenten goes pink at the sudden display, and ambles over to Neji, tugging at his sleeve with two fingers. She gives him a ‘let’s give them a second’ nod, and the two creep away towards the tree line.

Lee cannot force himself to let go of her. As her hands find his back, he only squeezes her tighter. She smelled exactly like she did that night. The sweet oil she put in her hair, the faint scent of spices and smoke, even the smell of her sweat was the same. His best friend, one he thought he had lost forever, was back in his arms. 

Hikari could feel him shaking, and held him close. She was trying her damnedest not to tremble right along with him. Who would have thought something as trivial as her weekly station on the border would bring them… bring him right back into her life? Her fingers unconsciously grip the spandex of his jumpsuit, and she smiles as she remembers the feeling. Would he ever stop dressing lik—

“GUY-SENSEI!” She suddenly pulls back, shoving his shoulders away just far enough to look him in the eye. “You’re not with Guy-sensei, did something happen to him?!”

Lee blinks once, twice, and then the tears he had been holding back cascade down his cheeks.

“HIKARI-CHAAAAAN!”

“Oh my god?! Lee?!”

—

“Yashima residence, Seiko speaking.” The voice crackles over the phone.

“Yashima-san? This is Rock Lee.”

“LEE! Oh, hey! What’s up? You never call, did something happen to Hikari?” 

“No, no! Hikari-chan is fine!” Lee shakes his head wildly, nearly knocking the phone out of his hands. “I was calling to see— to ask— to inquire if you and Sugano-san were available next Sunday?” 

“Hiro? Uh, I’d have to check his schedule. Why? What’s going on?” The voice of Hikari’s teammate is suspicious, and Lee flinches. She was always very perceptive; hiding this from her would be difficult, even from Kumogakure. 

“I am throwing a yakiniku party, a…” He looks up at Tenten, who is wildly gesticulating with a panicked expression on her face. “… T-to celebrate— friendship? No, um, it is a… reunion! A reunion of all of Hikari— I mean, our old friends!”

Tenten buries her face in her hands, groaning. There was no way Seiko didn’t pick up on that.

The silence over the phone seems deafening for a moment, before the chef-nin pipes up again, a smug grin audible in her voice.

“Yeah, we can come. We’ll make time. Take good care of Hikari, you hear me?”

“I will— I mean, yes, thank you! I mean, uh, the party will be my treat, so please do not worry about payment!”

“Of course. See ya then, Lee.” The phone clicks, and both Lee and Tenten sigh loudly.

“You couldn’t have fucked that up more. Don’t do that when we call Gaara.”

“I was nervous! Yashima-san intimidates me,” Lee says indignantly. 

“Duh, she intimidates you! She intimidates me, too!” Tenten slaps Lee over the head with the list of phone numbers she had written for him. Seiko, a short-tempered firecracker of a woman, never let anything go over her head, and had a mouth that made Hikari look like a saint. 

As Lee dials the next number, Tenten looks nervously at the guest list; Seiko’s name was right above Toki’s. Between her intuition and his gossip, the whole city might know about the proposal before Lee could even propose. 

Lee jumps a bit as the line picks up.

“Go for Toki!”

“Toki-kun? It is Lee speaking. I—”

“LEE! Damn, it’s been a while! You’d think with you dating Hikari we’d see each other more. Different schedules, I guess.”

“Yes, I—”

“HEY KANDE! LEE’S ON THE PHONE!” Lee has to hold the phone away from his ear to keep Toki’s voice from busting his eardrum. “Yeah, Lee! What do you mean you saw him last week?! And you didn’t take me?! Lee, did you really see Kande at the supermarket?!”

“Yes, I—”

“Dammit, I woulda loved to catch up!” Toki laughs. “I heard Neji got promoted again. Tell him congrats when you see him next!”

“I will! I—”

“Hey, Tenten got a boyfriend yet? HAH, I’m kidding. But not really, she better get on it.” Tenten huffs and crosses her arms— she could hear him from across the room. “I’ve got a friend in Suna that she could meet with. He likes… swords, ‘n shit. That’s what she does, right?”

“T-Toki-kun, I—”

“Oh, yeah, no wait. He’s gay too. Never mind. Gay minds think alike, hah. Oh, speaking of, I heard Kankuro got caught at a gay— that wasn’t a gay bar? Then what the fuck was it? Oh, no, a titty bar. He must be lonely. Hey, maybe we could set him and Tenten up!” Toki laughs again.

“Tok—”

“Or maybe Gaara! No, wait, not Gaara. That’d be weird, you know, with the whole ‘he crushed your arm and leg and almost killed you’ thing.”

“Toki-kun, I do not hold that against Kazekage-sama,” Lee manages.

“And that’s real charitable and all, but Tenten might, just saying. Oh yeah, I heard someone caught Shikamaru and Temari boning in the back office of the Kage-place-thing. Can you believe? They both seem so serious. I guess it’s the quiet ones! No, Kande, I KNOW I heard that one. I dunno who from! Well, do YOU have friends in Suna?! I’ve got at least one.”

“Toki-kun, please!” Lee pleads, and Toki laughs.

“Alright, alright, sorry Lee. What’s up, for real? You never call.” He laughs.

“I wanted to ask if you were free next Sunday to go to a yakiniku party for Hikari-chan. It is my treat.” Lee says quickly, trying to get out the invitation before Toki could talk over him again. 

“FOR Hikari? Her birthday’s not for a month. What’s going on?” Toki sounds suspicious, and Tenten and Lee lock eyes for a panicked moment.

“She, ah, got a p-promotion! A promotion, and we are celebrating! And a month is not that far away, it can also be a birthday celebration. Please come! It would mean a lot to Hikari-chan if you were there.” Lee sputters, and Toki tuts.

“Next Sunday, you said? Yeah, we can make it, that’s fine.” He laughs. “You’d better not like, propose or anything. HAH, just kidding. Could you imagine?”

Lee and Tenten both go pale.

“Speaking of, I heard that Hinata might be pregnant again. No, Kande, she isn’t FAT, that is SO RUDE. No, I’m pretty sure you can get pregnant again that soon after having a kid. What do you mean?! Naruto’s a horndog, of course— well, okay, I’ll give you that.”

“Toki-kun, I have to go now.” Lee wheezes.

“Alright, catch you later, lover-boy.” The phone clicks, and both Lee and Tenten collapse backwards onto their respective chairs. 

“Talking to Toki-kun is like talking to a typhoon,” Lee manages. 

“I feel like he can cause just as much damage as one, too…” Tenten rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands. “He guessed it right off the bat. What a disaster…”

Lee sits up, grabbing the paper off her lap.

“There is nowhere to go but forward, Tenten-chan!” 

—

“I can’t believe Guy-sensei ended up like that…” Hikari shakes her head, her eyes never leaving the daikon she was slicing. “I’m… proud, AND sad.”

“He acted bravely, and with honor and courage.” Lee wipes at his face, and Tenten pats his back comfortingly. “I am very, very proud of him.”

“I wish I could have seen that. I was in a different flank at the time.” Hikari scrapes the daikon into a bowl with the back of her knife.

“You were there?” Tenten asks.

“I was. I might be a chef, but I’m still a shinobi. It was all hands on deck,” Hikari chuckles. “Just in the background, I guess.”

There’s a long, slightly awkward pause. After all of the greetings and the storytelling, there was a lull in the conversation that should have been filled with questions that no one wanted to ask. Lee, Neji, and Tenten all exchange glances, silently asking one another to address the elephant in the room. 

“You guys look all beat up,” Hikari suddenly pipes up, gesturing her spoon at Neji’s wounded shoulder and eye. “Are you on your way back from something?”

“Ah, no.” Neji shakes his head. “We were ambushed, and escaped… but we had to sacrifice a few things to make it out.”

“Like my scrolls,” Tenten sighs bitterly.

“And our rations,” Lee says hopefully. “We were hoping that you could…”

“That’s what I’m here for, baby!” Hikari giggles playfully, tossing her knife into the air and catching it. “Wait… you said you escaped? Were you followed?”

The question is followed by another tense silence. 

“We are… not sure,” Lee admits. “This group is very good at hiding their presence, it is how they got the drop on us to begin with.”

Hikari nods, picking up three bowls of meat and rice and bringing it over to them. “Venison donburi,” she says, handing each a bowl.

Lee looks into his meal— it had spices similar to the curry he liked so much, but it was slightly different. It looked like a grilled slab of meat sliced into thin, glistening red strips, covered with a sweet, spicy smelling sauce, some of the pickled daikon she’d been making, and a bit of grilled corn sliced off the corn and piled in the corner with some butter and a bit of soy sauce. The whole thing was placed lovingly atop fluffy white rice.

It was simple, but glorious.

“I hope it-” Hikari starts, but is cut off by all three shoving mouthfuls of rice and meat into their mouths. Lee starts sobbing, tears running down his face as he eats. Even Neji drops all sophisticated pretense. Hikari goes pink and laughs a bit, untying her apron and getting out a small med kit from her station.

“Don’t choke, y’all,” she teases, starting to look over Neji’s wounds. Tenten looks over at her in surprise.

“That’s a land of lightning accent,” she comments with her mouth full. Hikari’s cheeks go even darker.

“Oh, well, yeah. I’ve been here for a while, ya know,” she rubs the back of her neck bashfully.

“No, no, it’s cute! I just… it’s a little weird, coming from you,” Tenten backtracks. “It’s different from how I remember you.”

“Mm, yeah. I guess it would be. I was such a little—” 

Hikari suddenly stops, and then gives a few forced coughs, thumping her chest.

“Oh, uh, sorry. Must have swallowed wrong, let me just…”

She heads back over her stand, bending to grab a bottle off the bottom shelf. By then, Neji’s picked up on what she’d noticed— they were being closed in on. Three from the rear and one on each side… five total. They were outnumbered. 

He tries to subtly get his teammates attention, but they were too focused on the food. He sets his bowl down slowly, ready to jump up and defend them, but Hikari locks eyes with him as she brings the bottle to her lips. Stand down, her eyes say. I got this.

She takes a long, deep swig, and the tension peaks… and then breaks as the enemy shinobi leap towards them. Immediately, Hikari vaults over her stand, lobbing the bottle over Lee’s head and directly into the face of the ninja about to rip into his spinal cord with a kunai. The bottle shatters and sprays them both with stinging liquid— sake. Neji whirls around and takes out the ninja behind him with a few well placed jabs, and Tenten ducks as Hikari’s foot connects with the shinobi behind her, before jumping up herself.

Hikari’s hands are a blur by now, and she rears backwards and sprays the shinobi coming towards Neji with a fine spray of the sake in her mouth. Neji only has seconds to get out of the way before the sake ignites with the sparks coming off Hikari’s speciality jutsu, which is making quick work of Lee’s attacker: flaming, blue-white hot flesh is covering her hands down to her elbows, and her feet to her knees. As she dances between the enemies, her feet leave glowing footprints in the green, wet grass, and her punches and kicks singe directly into the clothes, armor, and skin of her enemies. 

The unfortunate ninja ignited by the sake and sparks wails in anguish as he burns to death, and ends up accidentally setting his partner, blundering about with sake and shards of glass in his eyes, alight. As Lee and Tenten whirl around to get in on the action, Hikari whirls above them— literally. Lee’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. During all of their training together as children, he’d never seen her do this before.

Her hands and feet were so incredibly hot they were putting out fire, and literally rocketing her through the air. Tenten has to put her hands over her face to avoid the blast of heat that shot Hikari’s heel through another ninja’s breastplate. The sound of his flesh and bone sizzling, and the smell, like meat cooking… Lee claps a hand over his mouth. It was nauseating. 

Neji finishes off his own opponent, and Hikari finally skids to a stop, her hands and feet cooling from the burning, icy blue they once were to her normal golden brown. The other four nin lay dead on the ground, burning to death around them.

Hikari clicks her tongue in disappointment.

“Wasted a bottle of sake… that was the good shit, too,” she hisses, scraping burnt flesh off her hands.

Tenten retches into the grass.

Lee pushes his bowl of meat away from him.

—

Lee sprints through the streets of Konoha, eyes scanning the crowd as he goes. He was looking for a certain two hairstyles— a spiky, black ponytail and a mane of bright red hair. He knew they would be around here somewhere; their schedules listed today as their day off, and according to Ino, they always went for lunch together at this time.

He spots them, chatting together as they walked. They both jump a bit as he skids to a stop in front of them, slightly out of breath. 

“Oh, hey, Lee. What’s going on?” Choji asks, popping a potato chip in his mouth. 

“Choji-kun! Shikamaru-kun! Please come to Yakiniku Q this sunday! I am inviting everyone for a celebration! You must come!” Lee bows in his usual fashion— straight down, parallel to the ground. Shikamaru raises an eyebrow at him and gives a little sigh.

“I dunno, Lee, sounds like a—“ He starts.

“It will be my treat!” Lee cuts him off, not looking up from his bow. 

“OH, WE WILL ABSOLUTELY BE THERE,” Choji bellows, a grin stretching across his face. Shikamaru sighs. 

What a drag.

Meanwhile, Tenten ambles up to Sakura and Ino, who were sitting together at their favorite cafe, bickering over something but not really meaning it. Sakura notices Tenten first.

“Oh, Tenten! It’s been a while, how are you today?” She smiles, and Ino waves a bit.

“I’m good! I’m glad I caught you.” Tenten pulls up a chair and sits down at their table. “Lee’s throwing a barbecue party on Sunday, I wanted to invite you!”

“This sunday? I did have that off, but...” Sakura winces a bit at the thought of spending her only free night with Lee.

“Yeah, I was going to have a night in to condition my hair,” Ino pulls her ponytail over her shoulder, running her fingers through the platinum blonde strands.

“Please? The Kazekage’s family is coming, so are Seiko and Hiro, from Kumogakure.”

“Oh! Gaara-kun’s coming?” Sakura gives a little smile.

“We haven’t caught up with Temari in a while, have we?” Ino asks.

“Or Seiko, it’ll be good to see her again!” Sakura agrees.

“Alright! We’ll go!” Ino chirrups, picking up her teacup.

“Great, see you then!” Tenten beams back.

—

“Hikari-chan?”

Hikari looks up from cleaning up her station. After they buried the bodies of the nin who had attacked them (Hikari’s idea; she said she’d feel bad just leaving them), she had finished patching up Neji, and they had all decided to camp for the night. The chef-nin would stay with them for the time being, and help escort them back to their rendezvous point in the morning. 

Lee was looking at her over the sparkling, crackling light of the fire in the night. His eyes were wet, and he could feel the question rolling around the back of his tongue, not willing to come out with it. Tenten and Neji were both feigning sleep by this point; they were exhausted, but they were having trouble truly dozing off. Lee’s sudden question didn’t help the matter.

“… Yeah, Lee?” She looks back down at the cutting board she was buffing. The dancing light of the fire cast shifting shadows over her face, and helped hide the twisting feeling in her chest. She knew what he was going to ask next… or, at least, she hoped he wouldn’t.

“Why… did you leave, that night?” 

There it was. Hikari knew it was coming, but she wished it had come from anyone but him.

“I, uhm, I don’t know what you mean,” she lies quietly. 

“The night I left to help bring Sasuke back,” he clarifies. “When we returned, you were gone.”

“I-I told you that I had an apprenticeship.” She refuses to look up at him, shifting nervously in the grass.

“I…” Lee bites his tongue. He wanted to tell her that she did not need to leave that night, that she could have left when he returned, that she could have said goodbye, and they both knew it. “Right, I… forgot.”

“Shishou told me I had to leave immediately for the land of lightning, so I had to go,” she mumbles. 

“You could have left a note,” Lee adds bitterly.

“No, I couldn’t have.” Hikari looks up sharply. “It was— I was— Shishou said I couldn’t tell anyone where I was going. Not that it would have mattered. I didn’t have anyone that would care that I left, anyway.”

That stung. Lee flinches from the venom in her voice, and his hands ball into fists. Neji’s eyebrows furrow, and Tenten’s shoulders pull up slightly towards her ears. They all knew that wasn’t true, but only Lee knew why she said it.

“Hikari-chan…” he starts, and Hikari picks up her dirty bowls and spoons.

“I’m going to go wash these,” she mutters as she retreats into the trees. 

—

That saturday, Seiko and Hiro check in to their hotel a day early. As Hiro settles down into bed for a midday nap, Seiko heads directly for the bedside telephone and dials in a number.

“Go for Toki!”

“Toki, it’s Seiko.” She sits down in the chair beside the nightstand.

“SEIKO! Oh my GOD, it’s been such a long time! I can’t believe—”

“Yeah, yeah, enough chitchat. Listen, are you going to Lee’s party tomorrow?” She cuts him off.

“Oh? Yeah, I am. Why, are you?”

“Yup. Something’s up, and I wanted to go visit Hikari and ask a few things. I’m in town right now, so—”

“You’re in town?! What hotel, Kande and I can—”

“No, not Kande too. That’ll be too suspicious. Just you.” Seiko cuts him off again. “Meet me at Hikari’s house at three, I’m gonna call her now and make sure she’s there.” 

“Oh, okay. That’s fine. HEY KANDE, I’M GOING OUT. NO YOU DON’T NEED TO COME, I— No, Seiko’s— Yeah, Seiko! What do you MEAN you—”

“Bye, Toki,” Seiko sighs in exasperation, setting the phone back on the hook and starting to dial again. Hikari picks up after the second ring.

“Kumoka residence, Hikari speaking!” 

“Hikari! It’s Seiko, how are you, girl?”

“Seiko! Oh my god, it’s—”

“Been a while, right?” Seiko giggles, twirling the cord on her finger. “Hey, I’m in town for Lee’s yakiniku party.”

“Really? Damn, he really went all out.” Hikari laughs. “I heard he invited GAARA.”

“Oh, he did, huh?” Seiko raises a curious eyebrow. “Any idea what’s going on? Special occasion?” 

“Mm-mm. He’s been saying that he realized we all had the day off, so it’s, like, a reunion or something. A ‘celebration of friendship and camaraderie.’ I’m kinda excited. Is Hiro there too?” 

“Yup.” Seiko holds the receiver towards the bed. “Say hi, Hiro.”

“Hi, Hiro,” Hiro calls lazily from under a pillow.

“Oh my god.”

“Heyyy, Hiro!” Hikari laughs over the phone. 

“Anyway, Toki and I were gonna meet up to chat a bit. You want to come with?”

“Sure! I have today and tomorrow off— it really is strange that it all lined up like that. What a coincidence, right?” Hikari giggles.

“Yeah. Coincidence. We’ll pick you up at three, okay?” Seiko gives a smug little grin Hikari can’t see.

“Sounds good! See you then!”

“Great. Bye, girlie!” 

“Bye!” The line clicks, and Seiko dials again.

“Hello, Konoha Hot Spring and Spa? Yeah, do you have any manicure appointments for today at three?”

—

The next few days of traveling are… awkward, to say the least. Lee could tell Hikari was being quiet towards him, even though she was talking normally with Tenten and Neji. This, however, put Tenten and Neji off— Hikari had been Lee’s best friend, after all. It was weird to see them fight, even after ten years. 

She escorted the group back to the rendezvous point, which so happened to be hers as well. It would have been yet another strange coincidence, but it was the only outpost for shinobi for a several miles in any direction, and she needed to report back about the incident anyway. 

As they walk, a natural lull in the conversation stretches a bit too long, and each shinobi’s mind races to try and find something to fill the void. Hikari speaks up first.

“Lee,” she starts, making him perk up. “You grew your hair out.”

Lee’s hands find his long, thick braid, running down his back.

“Ah, yes. I did.” His bangs, in the front, were blunt cut, but parted down the middle, and he’d grown a braid again, like the one he had during his academy days.

“Any reason? Did Guy-sensei grow one too?” She smiles a little, before clearing her throat and looking away, remembering she was still bitter.

“No, no. I grew it out because… Remember the night before the exams? We were getting in some last minute training,” he says, turning to look at her over his shoulder as he walked. She frowns, but then nods as she remembers it.

“Oh, yeah! I do remember that, I—” 

She stops as the memory becomes clearer. A clear night under a half moon. Her pudgy, young self resting by a tree as Lee put in his 2307th kick. His glossy black hair caught in the light as he stumbled and fell backwards, exhausted. As she helped him up, she had run her fingers through it. ‘You should grow your hair out again,’ she’d teased. ‘I liked it long.’

Her cheeks go pink, and she clears her throat again, crossing her arms. “I think I mentioned I liked it when it was longer?”

“You did!” He gives a little grin. “I guess I kept thinking about that.”

Tenten gives Neji a look, and Neji rolls his eyes subtly. He could remember when Lee had come to him asking about maintenance on long hair, and when Neji’d asked why he was interested, Lee shuffled in embarrassment and said he thought it might make him more attractive to the right people. At the time, he thought it was about Sakura.

Hikari twirls a strand of her own hair around her finger. “It looks good, I like it,” She mumbles. 

The conversation trails off again, but this time, no one bothers to fill it until they arrive at the rendezvous point. The group splits off— Lee and his team to pick up the parcel, and Hikari to give her report. Hikari gives Lee a last fleeting glance as they’re hurried off to a separate reporting room. His eyes can’t help but linger on her back until they turn a corner.

Lee’s team, due to Neji’s injuries, is recommended to stay overnight to rest, and it’s a night that feels like an eternity. Soon, though, morning comes, and as Neji and Tenten get ready to leave, they notice Lee hanging around, dragging his feet and glancing this way and that. ‘For Hikari,’ they both think.

“Lee, we gotta go. I know you want to say goodbye, but we’ve already lost too much time,” Tenten prods his back. Lee looks at her, his thick eyebrows drawn up in a frustrated and defeated frown. 

“Tenten-chan, I—”

“GUYS!”

Hikari comes sprinting down the street, waving at them and making her pack jangle noisily. Lee perks up, a big smile spreading across his face. Tenten can’t help but snort at how easily she could read him. He was an open book written in giant red letters.

“Guys!” Hikari comes skidding to a stop in front of them, nearly losing a geta in the process. “I’m coming with you!”

“You’re going to escort us back, too?” Neji asks.

“Nope, I’m coming back for good.” Hikari gives a wide grin, whipping out a paper stamped by the Raikage. Immigration papers. 

“How did you—?” Tenten’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, and Hikari laughs a little.

“I’d already put in a form a month ago, but it was for Suna. I mentioned you guys, and Naruto, to the Raikage, and he immediately switched the destination for me and approved it. Something about having a dual citizenship shinobi in Konoha being good for them.” She puts her hands on her thighs and bends over to wheeze, giggling. “They’re having my luggage shipped over. My last mission is to escort you back safely.”

Lee’s face goes bright red, and he scoops Hikari up, swinging her around in a hug that nearly takes Tenten and a nearby fruit stand out. “WOAH! HEY!”

Hikari whoops and laughs as he sets her down, and stumbles, trying to find her feet. “Lordy, Lee! Give a girl some warning next time!”

“I am sorry! I am just so excited!” Lee looks like he’ll burst, grin stretching from ear to ear. It was even whiter and shinier than normal, it seemed. As if that was possible.

“I can’t wait to see Toki and Kande,” Hikari giggles. “And everyone else, of course. Do you think they’ll be surprised?”

—

“Yes, Lee-san, we have your reservation. Twenty people, all you can eat deluxe menu, VIP room.” 

“Good, yes, thank you. Ah, I have a question. Does the deluxe menu come with alcohol?” Lee asks into the receiver. 

“Yes, it does, but only our basic drink menu. Would you like to upgrade that?”

“No, thank you. It may be… troublesome if certain members of our party have too much to drink.” He winces thinking about the last time he had accidentally had alcohol— it did not end well for the restaurant, or his wallet.

“Alright. If any of your party members would like the upgraded version, they just need to request it. That includes our luxury wines and cocktails.”

“Yes, thank you. That is all I needed to know. Thank you for your time. Goodbye.” He nods and hangs up, sighing and sitting back on his bed. He checks the list Tenten made for him: reservations, schedules, a new jumpsuit, a haircut— the ring.

He jumps to his feet and yanks the phone off the wall, hurriedly punching in the numbers for the jewelry store.

“Konoha Luxury Jewels, how may I help you?”

“Hello, yes? I have an order for an engagement ring, it should have come in today.”

“Can I have your name and order number?” Lee scrambles over to the page left on his bed, stretching the cord of the receiver longer than it really should go.

“Rock Lee, order RCA113,” he sputters, stumbling back over to the wall before the whole phone could rip off. 

“Ah, yes. We have your order, Lee-san. You can come pick it up today any time before 5pm.”

Lee looks at the wall. 4:47pm.

“That is in fifteen minutes.”

“Technically thirteen.” 

“I will be there immediately.”

“We won’t be open tomorrow, sir, so please be quick.” 

“Thank you, goodbye.” Lee slams the phone down and trips over the stretched out cord, somersaulting down the hall towards his front door. He gets his shoes on backwards and busts down the corridor towards the street, when he remembers— he needed the receipt to pick it up.

He books it back into his apartment, trips AGAIN over the phone cord, tears through his desk, grab the slip, and rips back outside into the street, leaving his door hanging open. As he races through the streets, he nearly knocks over an old woman turning a corner, swerves around her, and his ill-fitting shoe catches in a storm drain, taking him straight to the ground.

The receipt flutters from his hand, and he shrieks in horror, racing after it down the street— the wrong way. After a solid three minutes of chasing the slip on the wind, he remembers that he is a ninja, whips out a kunai, and nails the paper to a nearby phone pole as it passes by. 

He retrieves the paper and glances at a nearby clock, hanging from the window of an old store: 4:56.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” he screeches, booking it back down the street, stumbling a few times around corners, but never losing the paper again. He skids to a stop in front of the jeweler’s, trips, and scorpions onto his face after a few more impressive somersaults down the street. The clerk, just about to turn the open sign over, jumps in surprise as Lee slams his face onto the glass door, looks at his scuffed clothes and bleeding nose and gives a small sigh.

“I can’t let you in to shop,” she says, opening the door for him. “Do you have an order?”

“Yes,” Lee wheezes, his torso flopping into the shop halfway as the door opens. He weakly and shakily holds up his receipt, now with a slight tear in the top from the kunai.

“… Rock Lee, order RCA113? The engagement ring?” she asks.

“Yes, that is me,” Lee rasps, still face down on the shop floor.

“… I’ll get that right out for you.” She turns to head into the back room, letting him hang halfway out her shop.

“Thank you, I would appreciate that,” he croaks. 

The clerk brings out a small, velvet, navy blue box and wraps it in tissue paper, placing it inside a small, delicate bag with the name of the shop printed on the front in fancy gold filigree. 

“Will that be all, sir?” she asks, handing it to the shinobi on the floor.

“No, thank you. Thank you for your mercy,” Lee sits up, wiping his nose on the wraps around his hands. He pulls his wallet out of his flak vest pocket and hands her a few bills. “For the floor,” he wheezes. 

“Th… thank you, sir.” She takes the money with a thumb and a forefinger, before stepping around the puddle of blood to lock the door as he leaves. 

Looking at the gorgeous ring bag in his hands, Lee resolves to not run into any more antics before he can get home, turns around… and runs right into Hikari, who was busy admiring her new manicure.

“Oh, Lee!”

—

“Hello, Hikari-chan.” The figure darkening her brand new doorway was holding a big, glass bottle that shone in the low light of the autumn evening. 

“I wasn’t expecting you tonight,” she grins. “Is that sake? Are you even allowed into any liquor shops?”

“I am old enough to drink now, Hikari-chan!” Lee protests, coming in and setting down the bottle on her dining table. 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” She giggles, sitting down in front of it. He sits across from her.

“It is a housewarming present. I remember you said you wasted some when you saved us,” Lee clarifies. 

“Thank you, that’s very thoughtful.” Hikari twists to grab a corkscrew from a drawer behind her. The action exposes a bit more of her chest— she wasn’t in her usual ninja uniform today. Instead, she was wearing a strapless, casual jumpsuit and a house haori, her hair down around her shoulders. Bending over the way she did gave Lee a nice peek down her shirt.

He looks away and doesn’t look back until she’s poured herself a cup.

“Hope you don’t mind if I don’t offer you any,” she teases, taking a little sip. He laughs and waves his hands dismissively.

“I do not drink, even though I am old enough,” he chuckles. Hikari gives a long, happy sigh, holding up the cup in a faux ‘cheers.’

“To new beginnings, then?” Her golden eyes sparkle in the low light streaming in from the windows— the last of the sun’s rays. She really was as gorgeous as he remembered her.

“To new beginnings, Hikari-chan,” he agrees, holding up an imaginary cup and ‘clinking’ it with hers. 

The two sit in silence as Hikari enjoys her drink, and the light dwindles to a burning red twilight. It takes Lee until then to muster the courage to speak; however, Hikari beats him to the punch, the sake loosening her tongue.

“Lee, do you remember that night?”

“Which night, Hikari-chan?” 

“Don’t be coy. You know which one.”

—

“Lee, if you die, I’ll die with you,” Guy says, holding his shoulders tense before his student. “You mean too much to me to let you go into that surgery alone. And you mean too much for me to let you give up on your dream.”

“Guy-sensei…” The young eyes of Lee are full of tears. His own shoulders shake with repressed sobs. “You cannot—”

“I can and I will,” Guy says firmly, hugging Lee close. “If you’re risking your life and future, I will too. I won’t let you be alone.”

As Lee cries into his mentor’s jumpsuit, the rosy and tear-streaked face of Hikari peeks out from behind a nearby corner. She stays hidden until Guy takes his leave for the night, before approaching Lee in his hospital bed.

“Lee…?”

“Hikari-chan? What are you doing here?” Lee asks, wiping at his face hurriedly. 

“I was… I… I’m going to, too.” She mumbles, her own tears beginning to well.

“What… do you mean?” Lee’s eyebrows knit— he knew what she meant, but he hoped he misunderstood.

“I’m going to die if you die, too,” she says, more confidently this time. She tries to force her chin not to wrinkle, and wipes at her eyes with her palms. 

“I cannot let you do that, too,” he whispers, and she shakes her head defiantly. 

“I’m going to! I’ve made up my mind!” Her chest hitches with sobs, and she bites on her tongue to keep them from escaping. “I can’t… live in a world without you, Lee.”

“Hikari-chan! You cannot! I cannot let you AND Guy-sensei risk your lives for me!” he protests, and she stomps her foot.

“YOU DON’T GET IT! I don’t WANT to live in a world without you! I can’t!” she hisses, trying to keep her voice down.

“Hikar—”

“I’m in love with you, damnit!” 

Lee’s mouth drops open, and Hikari’s lip trembles in humiliation. “I wish I could have told you under different… circumstances,” she whispers. 

Lee can feel his chest and gut twist in knots, and his blood pounds in his ears. The casts over his arm and leg had never felt this tight, this restrictive before. He wants to speak, to say something, but his throat is tight with tears and regret. How could he have never seen it before? It made more sense the longer it sank in. But…

“But… Sakura-chan…” He can’t stop the words before they leave his mouth, and Hikari’s face goes bright red. Her expression rusts his throat shut— hurt, betrayal, loss, and hopelessness swirled in her eyes before cascading down her cheeks.

“I… I can’t…” she croaks, before turning and running out of the room. 

“Wait, Hikari-chan! I did not mean it like that! Hikari-chan!” he calls, trying to climb to his feet, but slipping as he reached for his crutches and crashing to the floor. “HIKARI-CHAN!”

—

“I really do not, Hikari-chan. Which night at the hospital?” Lee asks as Hikari takes another swig of sake. “The one before the surgery, or after?”

Hikari’s cheeks go pink and she pours another cup, thinking about her response.

“You know, you asked me why I left,” She says, glancing out the window at the dying light. “And I wasn’t honest with you.”

“I figured that,” Lee folds his hands over the other, trying to hide the fact that they were trembling.

“I mean, Shishou actually didn’t want me to say anything about it, but… I mean, I could have left whenever, and I could have told you goodbye. I was just… embarrassed. About the whole thing.” Hikari shifts in her seat, and one shoulder of her haori slips down. Lee cannot help but notice how much she had grown, and his cheeks flush.

He can only hope it was hidden in the fiery light of the sunset.

—

“Wh-what are you doing here, Hikari-chan?” Lee holds the ring behind his back, clutching it hard in shaky fingers. 

“Oh, Seiko’s in town for your party, and she took me to get my nails done. It’s been a long time since we had a girl’s day, you know?” She pauses, leaning over to try and peek around him. “Whatcha got there?”

“It-it is nothing, Hikari-chan,” Lee sputters. 

“Doesn’t look like nothing. Lemme see!” She grabs for it playfully, and he whips around backwards, trying to hold it away. Her fingers yank onto the tissue poking out of the bag, and she accidentally flings the box into the air. Lee lunges forward to catch it, behind her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to his chest.

“Oh! Oh, my, Lee. This is quite forward,” she teases, wrapping her arms around his waist. He blushes deeply, glancing between her face and the ring box dangling precariously between his fingertips behind her. She notices and tries to turn around, forcing Lee to spin her by her hands to face away from him. She giggles again as he wraps her in a backwards bear hug, not noticing as he tried to slip the ring box into his vest-front. 

As she wiggles, trying to get out of the hug, the box slips further than Lee intended, ending up pressed between his hips and her ass. Hikari’s face goes bright pink, and she can’t help but give a surprised chuckle. 

“Wow, Lee, I was kidding about being forward. Is that a kunai in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” She laughs. Lee’s face is bright red now, the blood starting to run down his nose again. In order to keep the box from dropping, he had to press his hips harder into her rear, and the spectacle was making heads turn.

“H-Hikari-chan, I am begging you, please stop wiggling,” he pleads. “People are staring!” 

She stops, glancing over her shoulder with naughty, mischievous eyes. 

“You want to take this up again at a more private location? My place isn’t far from here…” She rolls her hips backwards into his, and he just about faints as ring nearly slips onto the ground. His hand reflexively swings down to catch it, accidentally swatting it up into Hikari’s fat rear end and making her squeak. “Lordy, Lee!”

“I-I am sorry, Hikari-chan, I have to go!” He grabs the box and shoves it into his pocket, whirling around and sprinting back down the road.

“Lee? Lee!” Hikari pouts a little as he runs off, and then looks around embarrassedly at the voyeurs, who quickly go back to what they were doing. Dejected and riled up for seemingly no reason, she slinks off towards her apartment.

—

“What do you mean by embarrassed?” Lee asks, rubbing his thumbs together nervously. 

“I forgot, you don’t know the meaning of the word ‘shame’,” Hikari giggles, polishing off another shot of sake. Though she was smiling, her voice was bitter. “When you PROPOSED to Sakura, didn’t you do that in front of, what, the whole goddamn exam?”

“It was just Naruto-kun’s team, I think,” Lee corrects. “Hikari-chan, maybe you should perhaps slow down on that sake…”

“I told you I was in love with you, and her name was the first thing out of your mouth. Of course I was embarrassed. I was humiliated.” Hikari snatches the bottle away from his reaching hand, pouring another shot. “I couldn’t bear to come visit you, even after your surgery was a success.”

Lee pauses to listen to her.

“I wanted to, too. I really, really, really wanted to, Lee.” Hikari brings the cup to her lips. “I loved you so much, and I was so terrified that night. I… did come by, actually. But you were still asleep. You hadn’t woken up yet. That was the only time I could force myself to face you.”

She looks up at him, those soft lips still brushing the edge of her porcelain glass. “I was so relieved… I cried so hard. But… you were in love with Sakura, and I was just some girl in the background…”

“No, Hikari-chan,” Lee breathes, shaking his head. “That is not…”

“Of course it was! So I ran off again, like a coward.” She slams back the rest of the shot and pours another glass. “But when I came to visit you again, you were already leaving. Already on to the next thing.”

She crosses her legs, sitting back and letting the haori slide fully off both shoulders, hanging around her elbows. “I always admired that about you, you know? THAT’S why I left. I wanted to be like you. I wanted to be better than I was.”

Lee grits his back teeth, remembering. He was foolhardy, and left the night after his surgery to help Naruto find Sasuke. That was the last night he had saw Hikari… the last time he thought he would ever see her again.

—

Hikari creeps through the halls of the hospital, towards Lee’s room. She knew where it was, but it was after visiting hours. She just… needed to see him one more time before she left. Even if it stung, even if she never saw him again, even if he never wanted to see her again. 

She slips into the room, closing the door silently behind her, before turning to see… a pillow shoved under a blanket, and a rope made of sheets hanging from the windowsill. Her heart drops, and she rushes over to the window. He couldn’t have left. Not before her. Not without her.

She finds Lee dangling halfway down the rope, eyes huge. A smile cracks across his face as he realizes who it was. 

“Hikari-chan!” He calls in a loud whisper, and she can’t help but bust into quiet laughter, through quiet tears. 

“Lee, what the FUCK are you doing?” She calls back.

“I am leaving to go help Naruto-kun!” He shimmies back up the rope, closer to the window. “They need me, and now that I have recovered—”

“You haven’t recovered! You just woke up yesterday!” She chides, leaning halfway out.

“Do not try and stop me, Hikari-chan! I have to go.” He huffs. She smiles tearfully, wiping at her face.

“I’m not going to. Good luck, Lee.”

“I will not need luck, Hikari-chan!” Lee gives her a thumbs up and his signature grin, and her cheeks flush. She wanted to keep him like this in her mind forever.

“Is there anything I can do to help before you go?” She asks, leaning on one of her palms. Lee thinks for a moment, before suddenly gasping.

“I forgot my medicine! Can you get it for me, please? It is in a ceramic bottle on the table.”

Hikari nods and hurries over to the nearby table, picking it up and heading back over the window, not noticing the bottle on the BEDSIDE table labeled ‘medicine’… or that the bottle she’d grabbed was labeled ‘sake.’ She was too focused on her heart racing, and the feeling of her blood drumming in her ears.

She leans out to hand it to him, and he leans up for it. As he reaches higher and higher, she starts to hold it up away from him, in a playful game of keep-away. Lee frowns. 

“Hikari-chan, I—”

She cuts him off as his hand closes around the bottle, with her lips meeting his. His eyes widen and his face goes red. She tasted sweet, and her lips were so soft and plush… she smelled like spices, and the hair oils he had seen her use before. He could feel the hot tears on her cheeks, and feel her breath hitch… and then he tumbles off the rope, down onto the bushes below. Stunned and dazed, he can barely make out Hikari’s concerned voice.

“Lee?! LEE! Are you okay?!”

“Y-Yes…! Yes, I am okay…!” He calls back. He sees a light click on in the room right above Hikari, and she turns to look behind her. 

“Go! I’ll stall them!” She calls, and he climbs shakily to his feet and starts towards the hospital gate. “Lee!”

He turns to look back at Hikari, waving at him with a big, sad smile on her face. 

“Come back safe, okay? Come back to me.” She grasps the edge of the windowsill with white knuckles he couldn’t quite see. Lee nods, and flashes her a sparkling grin and a confident thumbs up, before bounding over the gate and out of sight. 

—

The twilight was dying, fading into an inky midnight, dotted not with stars, but with the beginnings of fluffy, dancing snowflakes. It was quiet between Lee and Hikari, as Hikari held her cup with trembling hands.

“I’m… sorry, Lee. I really am. If I regret anything about that night, it’s that I didn’t have the courage to tell you,” she whispers. “I was a stupid kid… I was scared, and embarrassed, and horny, and I didn’t realize the consequences until they were too late.”

She looks up at him, tears welling up. “When I left to better myself, I hurt you. And I’m more ashamed of that than anything else.”

Lee reaches to take one of her hands with his own, and she lets him, lowering her eyes and letting the tears roll down her cheeks.

“That night, Hikari-chan,” Lee starts, his voice trembling, “when I said Sakura-chan’s name. I… I was only thinking about how my affection for her blinded me to yours.”

Hikari’s face goes bright red as he continues.

“I wish I could go back and change what I said. Maybe… maybe you would have stayed.” Lee blushes. “I lost my best friend that day.”

“Lee…” Hikari gives a little hiccup, wiping at her face with her sleeve. “I-I’m so sorry, I’m sorry. I’m…”

Lee stands and scoops Hikari up in a hug, and she holds him close, sobbing into his chest. The two cry together in her dark apartment, the bottle of sake left sitting half empty from where it clattered to the floor. 

After a long cry, Lee helps her over to the couch, where he sits, still hugging her, still enjoying her warmth and softness. He missed this, he missed having someone to hold and sit with and laugh and cry with. He never realized how much he missed his best friend.

Hikari puts a hand on his chest and looks up at him, her eyes glinting in the darkness. She was so close he could count her lashes, and smell the sake on her breath. The sake.

Lee sucks in a sharp breath and pulls away, grabbing her hand and shifting uncomfortably. “Hikari-chan, you are drunk,” he whispers. Her lip pulls up in a pout, and she gives an adorable little whine.

“But Lee… please? I’ve… waited for so long…” she scooches forward towards him, and he has to pull away again.

“Hikari-chan, you are drunk, and I cannot… accept responsibility of what may happen if…” He swallows hard, face going beet red. 

“Am… am I still not good enough…?” Hikari murmurs, looking down at her shaky hands. 

“No, Hikari-chan, not at all!” Lee yelps, grabbing her hands again. “You are lovely, and I missed you too, more than you will ever know. But you are drunk.”

“I’m not drunk!” She protests, standing up and promptly falling over into his lap. “I meant to do that.”

“Hikari-chan—” He starts, and she grabs his face, pulling him into another kiss. His breath catches in his chest, just like the first time. Soft, and sweet… this time with the slight tang of sake. Oh no.

He yanks back again, wiping at his tongue. He knew that even a little bit could set him off, and he could already feel the familiar fuzziness in his thighs and in the back of his head. Hikari goes teary again.

“I really am not good enough, aren’t I? Am I so disgusting…?” She whimpers.

“That-that is not why—!” Lee starts, but Hikari cuts him off by letting her haori slip all the way off and pulling the front of her jumpsuit down with a single finger.

“I saw you looking… don’t you want me…?” She whispers, slowly exposing more and more of her cleavage. Lee squeezes his eyes shut.

“Hikari-chan! Please!” He stands up and picks up her haori, draping it over her shoulders. “Please, go to bed. We can talk about this in the morning.”

Hikari cries softly, but nods and lets him lead her to her bedroom. As he helps her into bed, she sniffles and puts her face down into her pillow.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, muffled.

“You are just drunk,” Lee assures her. “We should talk when you are sober.”

“G’night, Lee.”

“Goodnight, Hikari-chan.”

Lee locks the door behind him and leans against it, sighing long and low. He glances down, and notices his dance belt isn’t going much to help his… situation. Yelping, he hunches over and hurries away, back towards his own apartment. He would need to take care of this when he got back.

—

Lee hears a knock at his door as he finishes stashing away the ring— shoved under a few spare pencils and hand wraps in his desk drawer and pushed way to the back. Sighing in relief, he turns back to the door; he had invited Tenten over for a few last minute checks before the party. 

He was going to have to smooth things over with Hikari later. He did not want her to feel abandoned or grumpy right before he proposed to her. He swings the door open and flashes a warm smile. “Tenten-chan, I—”

“Tenten?!” He finds himself face to face with a very surprised and very hurt looking Hikari. “Tenten!?!”

“H-Hikari-chan!” He squeaks, his face draining all color. “Y-you are not who I was expecting—”

“Expecting?! You were EXPECTING Tenten?! What’s going on? You were so flighty earlier, and you ran off when I asked about sex, and—” Hikari’s voice starts to get louder, and Lee feels all the color return to his cheeks tenfold.

“N-Not so loud, Hikari-chan!” He whispers harshly, and she goes teary.

“Maybe you’d like SEX from TENTEN, then?!” She snaps, turning to stomp off. Lee panics and grabs her arm, yanking her physically inside the doorway and shutting it.

“Let GO of M—” She starts, but he slams her up against the shut door and pulls her into a deep kiss. Hikari squirms and slaps him, making him stumble backwards a few steps.

“What the FUCK is going on, Lee?!” She huffs, cheeks red. “You CAN’T expect to get out of this with a kiss, can you?!”

“I-I am not— I am not cheating on you, Hikari-chan! Not with Tenten, not with anyone! You are the only woman for me!” He pleads. “I-I… I have a surprise for you, and I needed Tenten-chan’s advice, because she is your best friend.”

His eyes well up, and his face goes bright red in shame. “I was trying to hide your gift from you earlier, but I… I am afraid I did not do that well, and now you are angry, and…”

Hikari’s face softens, and she bites her cheek.

“… Maybe I jumped to conclusions…” she mumbles, rubbing her neck. “I’m sorry, that was… really dumb. You were acting all weird in town, and then you opened the door asking for Tenten, and…”

“Planning the party and your surprise… it has been stressful, Hikari-chan,” Lee laughs weakly. “I am sorry I made you worry.”

“I’m sorry I slapped you,” she rubs his cheek gently, where there was a big, red, handprint starting to throb. “… Well, you know, sex is better when it’s make up sex, right?”

She looks up at him with flirty eyes, and he laughs, face flushing red. 

“I did not know that, but I am willing to test that theory…” He pushes her back up against the door by her waist, and she leans up to kiss him, running her fingers through his hair. His chest hitches again as he feels her lips— soft and plush, just like the first time he had ever felt them. 

He lets himself enjoy her, eyes fluttering closed as his hands brush to her obi, untying it and dropping it to the floor. Her fingers busy themselves letting out his braid, and he blushes as he feels his hair fall loose around his shoulders. 

She pushes him back to look him up and down, her cheeks going pink. “You know… I was right, it looks much better longer,” she teases. He giggles a little and gives her another gentle kiss. 

“I grew it out for you, Hikari,” he whispers in her ear, and her heart leaps in her chest. Who knew a simple dropped honorific could be so, so, so incredibly sexy?

She yanks his hair, pulling him back into a kiss— this time, a messier, more passionate one. His hands work quickly, slipping her kimono down her shoulders and revealing the tight fitting sleeveless jumpsuit she wore underneath. Her breath catches as his hands pass over her waist, and then again as he squeezes her ass. His fingers tease down her thighs, and her fingers wind through his silky black locks, tangling in each other, pressed against the front door. 

“Lee,” Hikari moans as he hikes her thighs up around his waist, “we gotta take the jumpsuits off.”

“That IS the only problem with them,” he murmurs, nipping his way down her collar bone. Without letting her down, he carries her deeper into his apartment, setting her down on the bed and climbing between her legs. Hikari’s jumpsuit had a zipper down the front, but his had one down the back.

Hikari watches with excited eyes as he reaches behind him to unzip his, a naughty smile worming its way across her face as his muscles rippled with the action. “Jeez… damn, how lucky am I?” She chuckles.

Lee blushes a bit as he stripped the top of his jumpsuit down to his waist, before pinning Hikari’s wrists down by her sides. He grabs her zipper with his teeth, pulling it down without breaking eye contact. Her breasts press against the tight, flat surface of the spandex as it pulls apart, before jiggling loose as the zipper comes over her sternum.

“I could say the same thing,” Lee breathes, giving the flesh of one breast a little nip. Hikari moans, cheeks burning red. He was more aggressive today. She liked that.

She REALLY liked that.

She quickly strips out of her own jumpsuit, turning them over and climbing on top of him in the process. Lee blushes as she ends up straddling his hips, her hands on his chest.

“I would ask what’s gotten into you today… but I gotta say, I don’t really care,” she croons, beginning to roll her hips back and forth. He groans, feeling her fat, supple behind pressing into his throbbing groin. 

“Hikari-chan,” he starts, but she scratches her nails down his chest.

“Hey now, don’t start using -chan again,” she chides, working her hips backwards, down his thighs. Her fingers trail down his abs, lightly now, until they reach his waistband… and his dance belt. “It was so sexy when you said my name earlier.”

Lee moans again, feeling his mouth wet as she slowly, torturously let his hard, throbbing member out. “H-Hikari…”

“Again…?” Hikari murmurs, pulling down her panties and slipping one leg out of them. Lee swallows loudly, running his hands up her thighs.

“Hikari,” he manages, slipping a hand down between them to help steady himself, pressing his head up against her hot, slippery gash.

“Again,” Hikari moans, rolling her hips in little circles, just so, feeling the tip spreading her wider and wider apart… until he pops inside her, sending sparks of pleasure flickering through both of their loins.

“H-Hikari!” Lee gasps, and she can only give a shuddering sigh in return. His hands brush up to her hips, grasping onto her rear again, helping steady her. Her toes dig into the sheets, and she leans down, walking her hands over his head until her lips brushed his.

“Say my name again, Lee,” she whispers, and he responds in kind, kissing her hotly. As she starts rolling her hips, letting her slick insides squeeze and milk his shaft, his strong, rough fingers squish into her backside, supporting her as she spelled her name in kanji, then hiragana, then in katakana. 

Hikari, Hikari, Hikari.

She sits up and moans, letting him buck his hips up into her, feeling him bounce her on his hips. Every bounce sent shockwaves of pleasure zinging up her spine and left her seeing stars. 

“F-fuck, Lee!” she cries, steadying herself on his chest. He looks up at her, at her lust-dazed expression, at her jiggling breasts and bouncing hair, and feels a sudden heat blooming in his chest. He turns them over again, thumping noisily into the wall as he did so, pinning her down.

“Say MY name now, Hikari,” he huffs, starting to pound her into the mattress. The old twin bedframe squeaks noisily, punctuating her chuffs and squeals.

“Lee! Lee! Oh, fuck, Lee!” she grips the sheets behind her head, tossing her head back, cheeks burning as hot as she felt. He was never like this. Maybe make-up sex WAS better.

“Lee, I’m— OH MY GOD.” 

Tenten’s voice suddenly comes from the doorway, and both half-clothed shinobi whip around to see their friend with her hands clapped over her eyes, back turned to them, hunched over in horror. 

“GOD ABOVE, YOU GUYS. HOW ARE YOU ALWAYS FUCKING?! THIS IS WORSE THAN LAST TIME!”

—

Lee was sweating bullets. 

Everyone around him is having a good time, laughing, eating barbecue, and drinking. No one, he hoped, suspected a thing. But he was the most nervous he had ever been. He could feel the back of his jumpsuit starting to stick, and more than once had to discreetly wipe at his forehead. 

He wanted this to be special. Hikari had to know what she meant to him. He wanted to tell her, and everyone else, about how she was his best friend, how he loved the days training with her in their youth, how he clung to the memories of her after she had left, how overjoyed he had felt when they had stumbled across her in the forest that day. 

That evening in her apartment.

The night in the cabin.

He swallows hard, running his finger across the velvet ring box in his pocket. Was it this hard when Naruto proposed?

“Hey, Bushy Brows!” Naruto calls from across the table. Lee looks up, eyes wide. “This is a great party!”

“Yeah, thanks for bringing us all together,” Kiba laughs. “It can’t have been easy.”

“It’s great to see everyone again, right?” Kankuro crows raising his sake glass, and a few of the group cheers with him.

Seiko glances between Lee and Hikari, who was sitting beside her, giggling and chatting away with Toki.

“Thank you, everyone! But I threw this party for another reason! I am sorry for deceiving you!” Lee feels the words coming out of his mouth before he can stop them, and he jumps to his feet, knocking his stool over behind him. The loud clatter makes the room hush, and he stumbles over to Hikari. 

She looks up at him with those gorgeous, golden eyes, and he feels his heart jump into his throat.

He drops to one knee, pulls out the ring box, almost dropping it, and opens it to reveal a gold ring with a glittering golden jewel in the middle, surrounded by little shimmering diamonds.

“Hikari, will you please marry me?” he asks, face going bright red. 

The room is silent. You could hear a pin drop. The sound of sizzling meat and the blood pounding in his ears is only joined by someone dropping their chopsticks, and another dropping their bowl of rice.

Hikari blinks rapidfire, her own face flushing to match Lee’s.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!” The room suddenly explodes with sound, everyone shouting in surprise and excitement.

“No WAY!”

“IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW!”

“LEE?! Getting married before ME?!”

“Holy SHIT!

“OH MY GOD!”

“LEEEEEE!”

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!” Seiko yells, a grin plastered wide across her face. “SHE HASN’T SAID YES YET!”

The room quiets again, and all eyes return to Hikari and Lee, both unmoved, both staring right at each other. Hikari’s eyes well up, and she blinks away tears, before looking around at all the expectant faces as if the spell had been broken.

“Uh? Oh! Ye-yes! Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you!” She laughs, and Lee jumps up, wrapping her in a hug and spinning her around as the room explodes into noise and cheers. As she comes down, she kisses him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I didn’t expect THIS to be my present!” She laughs, tears rolling down her cheeks. Lee presses his forehead to hers, his own tears joining hers.

“HEY! Cheers to Lee and Hikari!” Toki yells, raising his glass. Everyone raises their glasses, and Lee reaches back for his, a big grin spreading across his face. Hikari grabs her own, locking her arm with his, bringing the glass to her lips. She almost can’t drink because of her smile. 

That gorgeous smile.

“BANZAI!” Lee gulps down a few swallows of his glass, before coughing and sputtering. 

“This is not mine,” he manages, looking inside the drink he’d grabbed. Hikari peers in too— it was a sweet sake cocktail.

“Oh no,” she gasps.

“OH NO,” Tenten and Neji both gasp. Guy-sensei’s face goes pale as Lee hiccups and wobbles a bit.

“Lee? LEE! Snap out of it!” Hikari begs. “Lee!”

—

Lee wakes up the next morning with a pounding headache, beside Hikari, naked in his bed.

“Wh… what happened?” he groans, rubbing his forehead. “I do not… remember anything.”

Hikari blinks awake herself, giving a little groan.

“Uh? Oh.” Her face goes pink. “Last night, you mean?”

“Yes. I… did I propose?” he asks, sitting up. “Why am I… why are we both naked?”

Hikari’s face goes even deeper red. “Well, uh… yes, you proposed. And then you accidentally drank someone else’s cocktail.”

“Oh no,” Lee gasps. “Did I do… too much damage?”

“Uh… Don’t talk to Choji for a while.” She laughs nervously. “It’s alright, we all chipped in for the damages… you’re probably going to have to pay them all back, though.”

“Right…” Lee lays back and sighs. “Wait, that does not explain why we are both…?”

Hikari buries her face in his chest, and he can feel the heat from the blood in her cheeks.

“We, uh, may have a few public indecency charges.”

“Oh no.”

END


End file.
